South African Cochrane Centre

WHO Evidence-based Reproductive Health Care (EBRHC) Training Initiative
The SACC, with the able assistance of Ms Jawaya Small, a midwife and a Health Education Consultant from the Red Cross Hospital Child and Family Unit, completed an Evidence-based Reproductive Health Care Training Programme. This initiative was funded by World Health Organization (WHO) Afro (WHO regional office for Africa) who commissioned the SACC to develop a training programme that would target different professional groups such as policy-makers, medical and nursing academics and midwives with one package and of which monitoring and evaluation would be an essential feature. The programme was also to have a component for "training the trainer" as it was envisaged that this programme would be extended into six different African countries where local people would be identified as trainers.

A training programme was developed which comprised of a 4-day workshop together with

• two manuals, one for participants and one for those participants who would be identified as trainers and would therefore undergo one extra day (day 4 of the workshop) of training
• a "board game" to test the theoretical aspects of the workshop and to instill an element of fun into the learning process
• the necessary evaluation and monitoring tools

In order to ensure maximum participation of the participants in the learning process, the workshop included a number of presentations, group work, case studies discussed in groups or pairs, practical sessions and games. The practical sessions were devoted to teaching the participants to use the WHO Reproductive Health Library, a CD-Rom which is distributed by the Reproductive Health and Research Department of WHO free of charge to low and middle income countries, and which is an essential tool in the practice of EBRHC.

An EBRHC board game, similar to snakes and ladders, was developed to be played in groups. The illustrations used for the background of the board game typify the public health problems inherent in developing countries in a lighthearted vein.

The first pilot of the EBRHC workshop was held in Cape Town from 14 - 19 April 2002. Twenty participants who represented all the different professional groups identified above attended this workshop. Prof Oluwole Akande, a WHO consultant and Prof Justus Hofmeyr, acted as external evaluators. The response to the first pilot workshop was overwhelmingly positive from both the participants and the external evaluators.

An additional workshop was held in December 2002 for 13 participants from other African countries to train as facilitators. Workshops are planned for Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia.

The SACC has been invited to continue to provide consultation to the process and to monitor and evaluate the rollout.